How to automate AP processes and skyrocket staff productivity

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How to automate AP processes and skyrocket

staff productivityAutomation is not about replacing staff with software. It’s about streamlining routine tasks to focus your team on solving problems technology can’t.

2 How to automate AP processes and skyrocket staff productivity

Over the past several decades, the Internet has opened up opportunities to engage outsourced labor to handle manual

payments and contracts. While this has reduced costs in the past, it fails to address the underlying challenges brought on

-ciencies and errors.

Although there is an understandable anxiety about robots replacing people, CFOs have to clearly communicate the message that process automation doesn’t equate to a loss of jobs. Automation enables people to work smarter, focusing less on completing routine tasks in order to engage in activi-ties that drive value and growth opportunities.

For the CFO, liberating staff from manual processes is critical

include HR, procurement, sales, marketing and almost every

in these departments frequently interact and intersect with the

This ebook addresses how CFOs can take charge of their company’s digital transformation and implement true process

Unleashing the human value of automationDigital transformation unlocks new employee potential

Outlining what CFOs need to know

of automation — higher wages, happier employees, etc. — as well as the business

processing, more accurate reporting.

Overcoming some of the challenges to automation projects, including the reluctance to take on new initiatives, lack of clear measurable goals, technology costs, implementation timelines and risk of failure.

Establishing a starting point in docu-ment management in accounting

for broader business transformation projects; and measuring success for planning future automation initiatives.

Topics explored in this ebook


— APQC

revenue on staff to perform basic accounting functions, while the top quartile performers spend just $3.66 or less.

In short, low performers are paying a lot to manually re-key data, reconcile accounts, and clean up the general ledger,

intelligence to reduce the need for manual processing.

While some routine data entry work has moved overseas, inexpensive labor doesn’t solve the problem of error-prone

. In fact, in many cases it makes matters worse.

The cost of routine tasksWithout automation, processes are very expensive

Software for process automation can cost as little as one-third the price of an offshore fulltime employee (FTE) and as little as

according to the 2016 Robotic Process Automation report from Capgemini Consulting and Capgemini Business.

Cost of onshore full-time employee

Cost of offshore full-time employee

Cost of automation software

$700per lost paper document and $125documents

The pain

70%of businesses risk total failure from catastrophic paper loss


How automation elevates the workforceRefocus on quality employees executing quality work

“ Finance teams will spend more time on strategy and less

time on executing routine tasks such as closing the books

and processing payments. The CFO should calm fears

that technology eliminates jobs; it enhances current jobs.

Kenneth Fick

By dramatically shifting budget allocation, automation rede-

less transactional and much more strategic.

For example, instead of people spending time manually inputting expense reports, focus on analyzing expense trends that might drive policy change. Instead of manually processing invoices, research ways to improve vendor engagement. Instead of manually creating P&L reports, provide leadership insight into investing in new strategic projects.

Kenneth Fick of MorganFranklin Consulting said automation

workers who can leverage unpredictability and exhibit inde-pendent decision-making to enrich the customer experience.

organization, wages are expected to rise. “We see world-class organizations affording higher per-head compensation. Having automated many clerical activities, they are operating with a smaller staff that is focused on predictive analysis and other high-value tasks,” said Bryan DeGraw, Associate Principal, The Hackett Group, a consultancy.

-tion is on the rise. “The true value of automation comes when

with business leaders to improve performance,” said Nilly Essaides, Senior Research Director with The Hackett Group.

1 not data crunching 2 Higher quality

How to automate AP processes and skyrocket staff productivity

How automation elevates the workforce


People get comfortable doing things the way they have always done them. Their spreadsheets are set up the way they like them and since the job gets done — eventually — why mess with what they view as success? Even if it takes a little longer or mistakes are made, that’s just the way things work.

Complacency exists at the user level, but some executives are

A poorly executed technology investment can derail careers and put companies out of business.

An annual survey from project management company Innotas found that more than half of IT projects fail, a statistic that

Failure is a result of poor resource allocation and the misalignment of resources with business goals, according to Tushar Patel, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Innotas.

First, there needs to be a clear objective — shave days off the close, be more responsive to customers, improve forecasting accuracy, or whatever is most critical to the business. Current processes need to be fully examined so that the company isn’t

-tices.

Once there is a commitment to investing in automation to improve processes, it is important to bring IT leadership, department heads and potential power users into the project early to ensure that everyone is on board and collaborating to maximize the value of the technology spending.

Finally, continuous performance monitoring, including ROI and other metrics, provides a framework for success going forward.

Overcoming barriers to change

How to automate AP processes and skyrocket staff productivity

In many organizations, there is a cultural divide between

as the “bean counters” and IT is viewed as free spenders.

to how to quantify and track the return on technology invest-ments. Technology spending that is focused strictly on the cost of systems overlooks automation’s value in clearing a path for more strategic activities that will advance the business.

Business leaders tend to view technology as an endless resource, like a utility. They know it costs money, but they

overall technology investment strategy and how much IT costs

factor into their budgets.

accuracy and more strategic talent allocation, the value of

A successful project to automate accounting tasks can be a

are communicated well and used as a case study for smart digital transformation.

“It comes down to ensuring that everyone in the organization understands why manual processes will no longer work and

Group. “Finance is in an excellent position to quantify those and ensure that they are communicated.”

“ While you want to ensure that you are maximizing automation

to improve your own processes, your partners should also be

gaining value through improved visibility and analytics.”


Analyze your market position and current processes, iden-tify where you want to be, and document the internal and external factors that will hinder or help in meeting those targets. For example, if you are $1 million in sales and

the market and management capacity?

Now that you know what you what is possible, how are you going to get there? At this stage, high level strategy is developed and a basic organization level strategic plan is documented.

This is where the strategic plan is operationalized into executable tasks and action items. This is typically the hardest step. It requires time to get right, and dedicated staff to both map execution from

This is the evalua-tion and sustainment phase, where there is ongoing

measured. You can only improve what you measure.

Naturally, companies want to track standard metrics such as cycle time to determine how automation has made previously manual processes quicker and more accurate.

Tracking adoption rates — including internal users as well as suppliers and vendors — is also critical to gauging success, said The Hackett Group’s Essaides. “While you want to ensure that you are maximizing automation to improve your own processes, your partners should also be gaining value through improved visibility and analytics available. That’s a big payoff

going forward.”

Best practices for initiating automationIt starts with strategy and improves with measurement


research

Finance leaders have their eyes on both bottom-line expenses and top-line growth, so when they invest in work-

value and innovation for the company.

Shifting routine work from people to automated processes can save money, but simply replacing manual processes will

to move the business forward while improving accuracy and enhancing visibility throughout the organization.

Finance chiefs who successfully lead their company’s inno-

execution leaders within their organization.

Deploying brings more accuracy and control to a process that many organizations have outsourced due to inexpensive labor and ubiquitous Internet access. While

it has been at the expense of control and accuracy.

Staffers may be concerned that they are being replaced by “robots.” It is the role of the executive management team —lead by the CFO — to communicate that work responsibilities will change for the better, leading to greater job satisfaction and advanced career opportunities.

Measuring the costs and impact of automation can be tricky, as value is not always measured in reduced expenses, but top-line revenue opportunities. It is more about freeing up the staff to identify opportunities for prosperity by broadening the customer base, expanding into new markets and gaining a competitive advantage.

It’s about labor augmentation, not labor displacement

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How to automate AP processes and skyrocket staff productivity